We’ve brought together a remarkable teaching faculty for our Expedition & Wilderness Medicine course taking place in Slovenia this October; all with an amazing depth of experience, living and working in the most remote corners of the world and achieving notable success in the face of extreme challenge and adversity. They will be sharing their extensive knowledge and skills to give you a comprehensive understanding of how to lead and provide medical cover on expeditions.

Meet this highly specialised team who will be delivering an unrivalled syllabus of content:

Ben Watts, Paramedic & Expedition Leader

Ben has been a Paramedic since 2014 and is a Critical Care Paramedic on the Thames Valley Air Ambulance. With a particular interest in human factors both within pre-hospital medicine and the expedition arena, Ben’s interest in Expedition medicine has seen him take on medic roles on a number of remote expeditions in Canada.

He also has a penchant for wandering the great outdoors, as well as taking on big river expeditions and Whitewater paddling. so, when he’s not on a micro adventure or practicing medicine, you’ll find him teaching (another of his passions), especially trauma medicine and particularly when the training takes place outside!

Hannah Kittson, Emergency Medicine Registrar

Hannah is an Emergency Medicine Registrar in the East of England, but mostly wishes she was in the mountains. She is a qualified Mountain Leader, and aspirant International Mountain Leader, having been involved in expeditions with school groups for many years.

When she’s not working on her Diplomas in Mountain Medicine and Tropical Medicine, you can find Hannah involved in providing medical cover for multiple, often remote, outdoor sports events including ultra-marathons, open water swimming, triathlons and mountain biking. If that’s not enough, when she’s not in the mountains, Hannah will often be found at Silverstone where she works regularly as a motorsport doctor.

Emma Figures, Medical Doctor

In her life before medicine, Emma lived in a caravan in Wales, worked as a healthcare assistant, travelled solo around the world having never been on a plane, hiked the Himalayas, studied Geography at Cambridge and volunteered in Nepal, China, India, Sri Lanka and Zambia (Teaching, Tsunami relief and TB hospices). After graduating, she taught in Geneva and undertook an internship at the UN and WHO, where she attended the Human Rights Council and World Health Assembly.

She then returned to Cambridge to study Medicine and ventured to Borneo for her elective (in a busy city ED and rural jungle clinic). After Foundation training in Cornwall and a Mountain Medicine course in Morocco, Emma returned to Kathmandu with Nepal Critical Care Development Foundation and has subsequently pursued a colourful career in expedition medicine and education.

Her expedition medic work has taken her on charity cycles in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Sri Lanka and hiking challenges in Iceland, the Grand Canyon and Kilimanjaro. She also had the chance to work in Fiji with the famous Dr Joe for the US reality TV show Survivor. Closer to home, she has worked as an Event Medic for a Children in Need Ramble and in the Brecon Beacons with Across The Divide.

Emma completed a PGCE during her clinical teaching fellowship at Birmingham University, before flying off to warmer weather (and Category 5 hurricanes) in the Caribbean, where she was as an Assistant Professor at Saba University. She is now back in the UK for GP training, but continues to dream of faraway places and enthusiastically teaches on expedition medicine courses dressed as a magical unicorn – true story!

Taryn Anderson, Clinical Nurse and Medic

Taryn is a qualified nurse who trained in Australia and spent the first part of her career working as Nursing Officer in the Australian Army. During her time in the military she completed her Master’s in Public Health and Tropical Medicine and began providing healthcare to in complex remote environments including Kenya, Papua New Guinea and remote Australia.

Moving to the UK in 2015, Taryn began to seek out further clinical challenges and responded to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa as both a Clinician and the Senior Nurse overseeing the Ebola Treatment Centre, which involved developing protocols for stringent infection prevention and control procedures and a comprehensive training program for staff.

During the battle for Mosul, Taryn worked with the World Health Organisation (WHO) as Clinical Coordinator over the course of 12 months helping to establish and run three field hospitals providing damage control resuscitation for trauma patients and two maternity hospitals to provide obstetric care to the people of Mosul.

Taryn has also responded as part of disaster relief efforts providing medical cover to teams deploying to Haiti, Nepal and Mozambique but most recently has been working for WEM providing medical support to a TV production in the South Pacific. She continues to regularly return to work in Australia as a Remote Area Nurse providing medical support to some of the remotest areas of the country and is currently enjoying exploring the South of England after a recent move.

Roger is a Scottish Patient Safety Programme Fellow who trained in the UK, New Zealand and Sweden. He has previously worked for Kent, Surrey and Sussex Helicopter Emergency Medical Service. (HEMS) and now currently instructs on Advanced Trauma, Medical and Paediatric Life Support in the UK and overseas. As an Educational Coordinator for Emergency Medicine at the Scottish Centre for Simulation and Clinical Human Factors he has designed, developed and delivered multiple high-fidelity simulation courses.

In 2012 and 2013 he trained and mentored clinicians in the first Malawian Emergency Department as part of a bilateral governmental aid programme and has also worked in collaboration with the World Health Organisation in Jordan and Erbil, where he helped to run the first multi-disciplinary and multi-agency Chemical Exposure and Trauma Care simulation training in Kurdistan.

In response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, in November 2014 he helped lead an NHS team within the first cohort of volunteers deployed by the UK Government and has also been deployed to the Caribbean post Hurricane Irma. Roger is an active member of the UK Emergency Medical Team supporting affected countries in the immediate aftermath of a humanitarian emergency.

Combining city centre living with his love of the outdoors – cycling, hill walking and long-distance running, medicine in austere environments is his passion and he has extensive expedition and ultra-marathon experience throughout Europe including Arctic Norway, Antarctica, Oceania, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America. Roger regularly teaches on Expedition and Wilderness Medicine courses in the UK and abroad.

Jamie grew up in the wilds of Northumberland, where this endless empty landscape instilled a sense of adventure and a desire to explore every corner of the world and to help others do the same. Believing that travel, endeavour and adventure are the best teachers in the world, Jamie has travelled extensively, but finds that his heart beats hardest in cold and mountainous environments; rather unsurprisingly for a Geordie. This passion for the unknown has taken him from the Deserts of North Africa to the Arctic Tundra of Greenland and Svalbard. An adventure athlete, climber, surfer, runner, mountaineer, he believes in challenging yourself and pushing your limits in every opportunity.

Jamie found his other great passion, pre-hospital care when he joined Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team, where at the age of 23, he became the team’s youngest ever Medical Officer, and is now a qualified Rope rescue supervisor, water rescue first responder and MR medic, working hard to develop the remote medical care NNPMRT provide. Having completed his UK HEMS crew training, Jamie spends his spare time working for the North East Ambulance Service on the road.

In April 2016, Jamie took part in the Iceman Polar race in Greenland, billed as the ‘Toughest Arctic ski race in the world’. After 5 days of skiing, avoiding polar bears and a storm, Jamie and his team mates won the race, with a time of 22 hours and 23 minutes.

Burjor Langdana, Expedition Dentist

Burjor is both a past consultant dentist for the British Antarctic Survey Medical Unit and a resident expedition dentist for AdventureMedic. He has many years’ experience in Expedition/Wilderness and Remote Access Dentistry, having first become interested in this specialism while running dental camps in remote parts of India (where he did his Masters in Oral Surgery), and later when working in the Sultanate of Oman.

Burjor deepened and broadened his expedition medical experience through spending four seasons in the Antarctic; working as a VSO dentist in Malawi and working with Mobile Surgical Services in New Zealand.

The contributing author and editor for the dental chapter in the new Oxford Handbook of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine, Burjor has written numerous articles about his specialism, which have been published in AdventureMedic and in the dental section of competency guides for remote health care practitioners and expedition medicine. He has also lectured extensively on his subject and provides phone and email support for event medics.

His main passion these days is to train medics in the dark art of Expedition Dentistry, through running intensive yet interesting hands-on workshops.

Claire Grogan, Emergency Medicine Doctor

Claire is an Emergency Medicine doctor with a passion for expedition and remote medicine. She has provided medical support for expeditions in many environments, but mostly enjoys working in cold & polar regions.

She enjoys spending time in the Arctic and has worked as Ship’s Doctor for a polar expedition cruise to 81 degrees North, has been part of expeditions in the Trollheim of North West Svalbard, and has crossed Finnmarksvidda & Hardangervidda plateau’s in Norway.

Claire is helping set up the Global Polar & Altitude Metabolic Research Registry at the Human Metabolic Research Unit and the University of Coventry and is a member of the Medical Advisory Group at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). Earlier this year she was the doctor for the Weddell Sea Expedition 2019, an international scientific expedition that explored the area around the Larsen C ice shelf and Antarctic Peninsula.

Claire has just returned from a 583km ski crossing of the Greenland Icecap, the 2nd largest ice sheet in the world, which saw an expedition team of 5 cross from West to East in 25 days.

In 2015, whilst working at a high altitude rescue post in the Everest Region of Nepal, she was caught up in the 7.8M earthquake that struck the region and joined a relief team from Australian Himalayan Foundation to deliver Aid and carry out a reconnaissance and needs assessment in a remote mountainous region of the Lower Solukhumbu.

After completing her medical degree in London and a BSc in Sports and Exercise Medicine, Claire went on to complete the Diploma in the Medical Care of Catastrophes (DMCC), and the Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene.

John Apps, WEM Polar Medicine Course Director New Zealand

Hugely experienced, John is UK-trained GP, with extensive pre-hospital emergency care experience who moved to New Zealand where he initially worked in rural general practice before and now works in rural emergency departments, in between adventures.

He has worked ten summer seasons with Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE) in Antarctica, taken on multiple Himalayan tours, he’s been the chief MO on the Everest and North Pole marathons, served with the military in Afghanistan and North Africa and he’s an active Search and Rescue (SAR) team member in New Zealand.

Well known to WEM, John has assisted on many WEM courses, notably our Everest Base Camp trek as well as heading up our New Zealand Polar Medicine course.

Join us this October in Slovenia; learn with this incredibly experienced and knowledgeable team, and be part of something amazing. Book your place today!

Traditionally, the vast majority of doctors and nurses in the UK have spent their entire careers working within the confines of hospitals and clinics or in the case of paramedics out on the road. But, spurred on by increasing pressure within the NHS and looking for medical experience elsewhere, medical professionals of all ages are looking to broaden their horizons and work in more unusual areas and adventure medicine is one such area.

World Extreme Medicine’s Expedition and Wilderness Medicine course in Keswick, Cumbria from 19 to 22 March 2018 will see a group of medics from across the UK hone the skills that will help make them integral members of teams providing advanced medical care in remote areas.

The format of the course – which combines lectures with practical learning – will push attendees mentally and physically over four days, which will culminate in a large-scale search and rescue exercise in the famous Lake District landscape.

Although it takes place in the UK, the four-day crash course will give participants a grounding in a number of different areas of non-hospital medicine that are useful on different sorts of expeditions: tropical medicine, hot and cold-weather medicine, altitude medicine and diving medicine. They will also cover areas like team leadership in extremes, communications systems and pre-expedition planning and casualty evacuation, which they may be unfamiliar with.

The course will be led by Eoin Walker, a London HEMS Paramedic and UKMED Team Member whose career has taken him to Malawi, Costa Rica, the Arctic, Asia and the Slovenia, and whose experience in Pre Hospital Medicine, Humanitarian and Disaster Medicine will be invaluable to the course attendees.

Eoin said, “The Expedition and Wilderness Medicine course is a first step for any medical professional who is considering a career outside of a traditional hospital environment.

“Attendees range from those who are curious about different sorts of work within the medical sphere, to those who are already decided on a portfolio career in extreme environments, to more experienced expedition medics.

“As the human race pushes into more of the world’s inhospitable places in search of natural resources or enjoyment, or in the name of science, there need to be doctors who can follow and keep people safe.

“This generation of medical professionals has the opportunity to have the most exciting careers in history!”

Mark Hannaford, founder of World Extreme Medicine, said, “Every extreme medic starts somewhere, and we may just find that the time in the Lake District ignites the expeditionary spark in some of the attendees.

“From there, they can go anywhere. They could provide medical support for scientists working in Antarctica, or with more training go on to work in other exciting areas such as deserts, high mountains or in conflict zones.”

The Expedition and Wilderness Medicine Course costs £895 including VAT and includes the cost of accommodation and catering. Further Expedition and Wilderness Medicine courses will take place in Plas y Brenin, Wales on 14 – 17 May and Lake Bohinj, Slovenia on 1 – 5 October 2018.

Our epic Slovenia Alpine Medicine course takes place in the stunning Julian Alps and is designed to open the world of expedition medicine to doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical professionals wanting to add adventure to their career.

The Extreme Medicine CMD/ CPD* accredited course will combine winter mountaineering skills, advanced expedition medicine training, plus altitude and cold weather medicine – everything you need to know to take on or lead an alpine expedition.

4 excellent reasons to attend Slovenia Alpine Medicine 2018Exclusive 1:1 mentoring: Unlike any other training course, you’ll receive structured one to one mentoring from our faculty team; enabling you to ask questions and personalise the experience to your own special areas of interest.

Expert teaching: You’ll spend 3 days in the mountains, where you will gain hands-on extreme medicine experience from our world-class IMFGA (International Federation of Mountain Guide Associations) guides and our professional WEM faculty team. You will experience a one-day avalanche workshop at Vogel ski area followed by a two-day mini expedition overnighting at Komna hut.

Fully integrated content: All course content is incorporated to replicate the real-life challenges you might face on an actual mountain expedition. This helps shape your understanding of the field and will enable you to function should you find yourself in an extreme or challenging mountainside situation. For example, on Day 5 of the course, you will be involved in a simulated search and rescue scenario which will enable you to put into practice all the knowledge and skills you have learnt over the past 5 days.

Networking: Our courses are the perfect way to converse with like-mind counterparts and colleagues from around the world, as well as meeting and learning from the world’s best extreme mountain medicine experts. …
Be one of the first to experience our Alpine Medicine course and take your extreme medicine career to the next level. Book your place today!

UOTW

Ultrasound of the Week is the brainchild of Dr Ben Smith at the University of Tennessee, Department of Emergency Medicine.

He created this amazing blog as a way to keep his residents thinking about bedside ultrasound throughout their training.

Described as a ‘junkie for the critically ill’ his blog leans towards this patient population and aims to improve treatment of the critically ill using this incredible tool.

Practice in paradise

Koh Rong Emergency Services and Medic programme was created by one man who spotted complete lack of medical care for locals and the growing population of tourists in Cambodia.

The project’s goal is to inspire and encourage the community to live and maintain safe, healthy lives through education and practice.

From teaching first aid to the local community to a 24/7 medic service, this project is about more than healthcare, it’s about improving the lives of the local community.

You can see more about what they do HERE. They are still looking for volunteer doctors, nurses and paramedics, so if you’re looking for something a little different, get in touch at kohrongemergency@gmail.com

Seas this great opportunity

Windfall Films seek medical professionals to take part in a programme where adventurous sea lovers will retrace a famous voyage across the Pacific Ocean.

The final night will see us camping wild under tarps, with heaps of camp-fire tales from our faculty and delegates.

On the final day of the course you’ll complete an extended search and rescue exercise where all of your acquired skills will be put to the test.

We’ve hired coaches to take you from the airport to the course location, so you just need to get yourself to Ljubljana airport on Sunday 2nd October and we’ll be waiting for you on the shores of the stunning Lake Bohinj.

The mountains are calling

For our altitude loving audience we now run a total of five exciting mountain medicine courses:

These course will test your physical and mental robustness, while challenging your ability to function in an expedition team.

By immersing yourself in these challenging environments you’ll find real cases requiring medical attention, plus you’ll visit medical facilities set up on the mountains and gain an insight into how they work and the challenges medics face.

Whether you’re looking for a non-technical ascent, high altitude trekking, a technical challenge or to learn invaluable information about snow-packs, we have something for you!

Join our experts for a life-changing high altitude expedition and learn the skills you’ll need to support teams around the world.

Have you heard about our new 5 day Expedition & Wilderness Medicine course held in Slovenia? For more on this exciting new course click THIS LINK to receive the latest information and early bird discount code.

Snow Sports Injuries

The Adventure Medic have recently published the ‘Practical Approach to Snowsports Injuries (Part II)’. The second in a series of articles by Dr Edi Albert, explores knee and shoulder injuries discussing how the approach of a ski doctor may differ from a hospital-based doctor or surgeon.

To learn more about Polar Medicine join Chris Imray, world renowned cold injuries expert and lead author of the recent Extreme, expedition and wilderness medicine article published by the Lancet.Alongside Chris we’re sending an expert faculty of seasoned polar medics and travellers teaching how to survive, provide medical care and function as part of a team in such a harsh environment.

If camping out in snowholes and challenging your limits with cold water immersion excites you, snap up one of the last Polar Medicine places here!

White Mars

EWM faculty member Dr Alex Kumar and Extreme Medicine speaker Dr Mike Barratt talk to CNN about the effect of extreme isolation on the human body.

Alex Kumar recalls his time with the European Space Agency discussing the physiological changes which occurred while facing extreme isolation in the world’s most hostile, monotonous and challenging environments, Antarctica. While Mike Barratt backs up Alex’s comments adding his findings and experiences from NASA’s human research programme.

“At Expedition & Wilderness Medicine, we excel in providing medical back-up in challenging locations, so we’re delighted to support contestants and crew on one of the world’s longest running reality TV shows. We have the world’s largest network of medics equipped to work in remote and austere locations and look forward to developing a great working relationship with the amazing team at Survivor.”

Be prepared

‘Our Trauma workshop enables a more resilient, effective and efficient approach treating acutely injured and unwell patients. The focused patient assessment and stepwise approach enables the optimal treatment to the critical patient in the shortest time frame.’

Held in a London Ambulance Service training facility, we have access to the best equipment, emergency vehicles and training spaces offering realistic scenarios to mimic the pressures of pre-hospital care.

We’re super excited to bring you the first major announcement of the year – keep reading to find out the latest developments at EWM.

2016 is shaping up to be a great year and while we can’t give away too much just now, there are more big announcements on the way.

Supporting medical professionals

We’ve previously shared blogs discussing the issue of PTSD in Paramedics / EMTs in the hope that discussion can improve awareness and lead to greater support. Earlier this week we shared an article from the Guardian recounting one doctor’s experience with depression and feelings of suicide.

The reaction to this issue has been huge and we’ve since been approached by a number of people who have wanted to privately share their experiences with us.

If anyone has a story to share, has written a blog or simply knows of great support services available, please get in touch and we’d be delighted to use our many platforms to spread awareness to bring about better care for those who dedicate their lives to helping others.

New Expedition Medicine Course in Slovenia

We’ll hold the course over five days and plan to take the challenge and excitement to the next level including, a night under the stars, more outdoor skills sessions and some surprise challenges.

Our ever popular workshops will be extended, allowing more in-depth learning with greater opportunity for Q&A sessions. Mornings are dedicated to stimulating lectures exploring many areas of expedition medicine, equipping you with the knowledge you need to tackle remote and austere environments with confidence.

For more information on this fantastic new course, get in touch with us HERE.

Where next

Our Pre-hospital Trauma Care workshop in London kicks off the year with two days of hands-on learning in London’s premier pre-hospital training facility. With a heavy focus on Crew Resource Management, you’ll come away a new understanding of how to best manage teams in extremely stressful environments when the chips are down.

Polar Medicinereturns to Norway with a specialist faculty including one of the world’s leading experts in frostbite management, Professor Chris Imray. This highly practical course will challenge and excite you everyday leaving you better equipped to face the challenges of cold weather environments.

Keswick is the next location for our UK based EWM course and we can’t wait to get there. If you’re looking to put the fun back in to medicine, then look no further!

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